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Suppressed Proliferative Response of Spleen T Cells from Metallothionein Null Mice
Author(s) -
Mita Masaharu,
Imura Nobumasa,
Kumazawa Yoshio,
Himeno Seiichiro
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2002.tb02665.x
Subject(s) - spleen , biology , splenocyte , concanavalin a , null cell , microbiology and biotechnology , cd8 , cd3 , stimulation , interleukin 2 , t cell , medicine , endocrinology , immunology , immune system , cell culture , in vitro , biochemistry , genetics
To investigate the role of metal‐binding protein, metallothionein (MT), in lymphocyte activation, the mitogen‐induced proliferation of freshly isolated spleen cells was compared among MT‐I, II null, and control 129/Sv mice. Spleen cells from MT null mice exhibited a markedly reduced proliferation compared with control cells when stimulated by concanavalin A or anti‐CD3(∈) mAb, but not by lipopolysaccharide, indicating that only the response of T cells to mitogens was suppressed in MT null mice. Flow cytometric analysis of unstimulated spleen cells demonstrated no significant difference in the relative percentages of either B220 + and CD3 + cells or CD4 + and CD8 + cells between the two strains of mice. The production of interleukin (IL)‐2 by MT null spleen cells after the stimulation by anti‐CD3(∈) mAb was lower than that of control spleen cells, especially within 24 hr after the stimulation. The addition of IL‐2 recovered the proliferation of MT null spleen cells to the control level. The reduced proliferative response to mitogenic stimulation of MT null T cells was confirmed by using purified splenic T cells. These results suggest that the MT expressed at basal level in the splenocytes plays an important role in T cell mitogen‐induced proliferative response, probably by positively regulating the production of IL‐2.